


The art of getting stuck in a shed with your crush.

by lovinglittleboat



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthur is a cute boyfriend, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Highschool AU, Kissing, Love, M/M, Merlin is So Done (Merlin), Merlin is fed up, The shed has a design fault, awkward moments, like it's a seriously stupid shed, merlin is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25245409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovinglittleboat/pseuds/lovinglittleboat
Summary: Merlin has never really liked sports, hockey deffinetly wasn't his favourite subject, so maybe it was a blessing that he had gotten trapped in the equipment shed.Well… it would probably be more of a blessing if his crush, Arthur Pendragon wasn't trapped in there with him.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 224





	The art of getting stuck in a shed with your crush.

**Author's Note:**

> hey, welcome to my fic.

“Okay, the last one out has to get the hockey sticks from the shed!” Their sports coach yelled and Merlin willed that someone would have the decency to shut him up. He would have done it himself if he had the strength, or atleast the nerves. But today no one seemed to care so much as to knock him out, shame...

It didn’t take Merlin that long to change, the only problem with changing the fastest was that you had to hang around waiting for everyone else and that was just awkward. 

Usually he aimed to finish getting dressed at around a middle sort of time, because then it wasn’t as awkward and nobody shouted at you for holding up the class. 

Merlin stressed too much over sports, he wasn’t good at hockey, he didn’t see the point in it. Maybe it was just because he hated sports, or because he had the most annoying teacher in the whole of Camelot Highschool.

Well today he wouldn’t have been last if it wasn’t for Mordred. It wasn’t that Merlin disliked Mordred, though sometimes he could be annoying and get in his face too often, but he had never really hated him.

He was just on his way to leave the changing rooms when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

“Stay away from my Girlfriend.”

Merlin turned around, Mordred was staring at him with such anger Merlin nearly had to look away.

“What?”

“You know what I’m talking about, Merlin, seriously, I thought you were nice, now you’re hooking up with Kara behind my back.”

Merlin nearly choked.

“What?! Mordred you know I wouldn’t do that, I’m not like that!”

“Oh stop it, Merlin, I’m 90% sure Kara’s cheating and I’m 100% sure it’s with you, you know why, because yesterday she was wearing a T-shirt that wasn’t hers.”

“It wasn’t mine.” Merlin protested, and he wasn’t lying, he had never touched Kara, or anyones girlfriend for that matter.

“Oh please, it had the slytherin crest on it, and I honestly don’t know anyone who is that geeky and a slytherin!”

Merlin couldn’t hold in his frustration anymore.

“Jesus, Mordred, I’m not even straight!” He blurted out and instantly wanted to slam his head into one of the lockers because the remaining five people in the room were all staring at him, and what’s worse, one of them was his crush, Arthur Pendragon, who was cool and hot and far out of Merlin’s league. Merlin felt his cheeks heat up and he focussed at a spot on the floor to look at instead of facing the humiliation.

“I- I’m sorry, Merlin I didn’t realise.” Mordred mumbled.

“It’s fine honestly.” Merlin reassured him. Though deep down he wanted to curl up into a ball and shut everyone out.

“Are you sure-”

“Mordred, just leave, please.”

Mordred ran off, looking back over his shoulder for a second, before disappearing out the door. 

Merlin took in a deep breath. He could do this. He put on a smile, and then took it off immediately, because nobody smiles in school (it’s practically a sin) and headed for the door.

“Hey, are you okay?” someone asked, Merlin looked up immediately, a little startle that someone was actually talking to him. 

His heart sped up when he realised it was Arthur.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He said in a quiet voice, not wanting to look into his eyes.

Arthur nudged him.

“Good.”

__

“Merlin Emrys and Arthur Pendragon go and collect the hockey sticks, please.” 

Damn. Merlin had forgotten about that. 

Arthur moaned and Merlin muttered “sure.” before they headed off to the sports shed.

Whoever positioned the sports shed at the other side of the school was an idiot, well Merlin guessed it was useful for anyone using the gym, but to anyone doing any other physical activities would have to walk all the way there and then lug all their shit back to wherever they came from. 

They could have at least made two, maybe they would have been able too, if the head teacher hadn’t spent too much money repainting the entire school a different shade of white.

Arthur opened the door and walked in.

“They aren’t here.” he said after a second.

“They have to be.” Merlin stood beside him, scanning the room. But Arthur was right. Nothing.

There was a sudden gust of wind and both of them turned around just in time to watch the door slam shut. Both of them stared at it for a second until Arthur spoke up.

“Fuck.” Arthur stared at the door in front of him. “There isn’t a door handle on this side.”

Merlin held his breath, lots of thoughts were now racing through his mind.

How long would they be stuck in here for?!

Could they die… No, that wasn’t possible… hopefully…

Seriously?! Arthur of all people.

“We could try yelling.” Merlin panicked.

“We’re in the middle of a field, Merlin, no one is going to hear us.”

“Right.” Merlin sighed feeling instantly stupid for suggesting it, Arthur must’ve seen the disappointment in his face because he took his phone out of track jacket. 

“I could call someone.”

“You have your phone?”

Arthur shrugged. “I take my phone everywhere.”

“Aren’t you worried about it getting smashed.”

“My Dad’s rich, he says having the best tech sets a good example, so this thing’s pretty much unbreakable.”

“Right.” Merlin slumped against one of the walls. “You try that then.”

“I’ll call Gwaine, he’s in our Hockey class, he’ll get us out in no time.”

___

“Gwaine is your phone ringing?!”

“It’s not mine!” Gwaine replied quickly. 

“Good, because if it is, that would be another week's worth of detention!”

__

“He’s not picking up.” Arthur sounded defeated. 

“They’ll come back for us, right?” Merlin tried to sound a little bit hopeful, “or at least the hockey sticks.”

“The hockey sticks aren’t here Merlin, which means the people who last used them left them on the field, and plus the teachers never keep track of their students, which is also why so many people skip class.”

“So… we’re going to be stuck here.”

“Until someone opens the shed next, yes.”

“Which could be in over an hour.” he added bitterly.

“Possibly longer, who knows we might be stuck in here for an entire day.” Merlin bit his lip and Arthur punched him in the arm. “Loosen up a little, that was a joke! We’re not actually going to be stuck in here for an entire day.”

“Except from the fact that we could.” 

“Merlin, I swear if it gets that far, i’ll call the police.” Merlin looked up at him again, this time his eyes were soft and reassuring. Merlin’s heart melted and it took him a second or two to get his breath back. “Are you okay?”

“Fine… Well as fine as being trapped in a shed gets.”

Arthur laughed and Merlin stared at him until he noticed; when that happened he looked back down at the floor with flushed cheeks.

“So… Merlin, I heard you were a slytherin.”

Merlin held his head in his hands. This was seriously happening.

“Well, yeah I guess all the best people are.”

“I’m a Gryffindor.” 

“Oh shit, yeah and Gryffindors, I mean all the cool people are Gryffindors, and they’re brave, and-”

He felt Arthur’s hand on his shoulder and closed his mouth quickly.

“No, you’re right.” He smiled, “all the best people are Slytherins.”

Is this what flirting is like?! Merlin didn’t think his brain could cope with it all, was he supposed to say something nice back? 

“No, I’m-”

“Can we please stop talking about harry potter now, I’ve only watched the first film and the one where Dumbledoor dies, it makes it a lot harder to argue with you.”

“Oh, right.” Merlin laughed half out of relief and half because he really didn’t know what else to do.

~oOo~

“Do you want to play truth or dare?” Arthur asked once they had given up on talking about everything else.

“Isn’t that like the lamest game, ever?” Merlin snorted, hugging a basketball that he had picked up from one of the boxes, “I haven’t played it since I was dragged into my friend Freya’s sleepover when I was nine.”

“I know, but it’s fun right?”

Merlin couldn’t argue there, except for the one time he had dared Will to go sledging down the stairs like in the movies and he had ended up breaking his arm, leaving Merlin feeling guilty for the next month or so.

“I guess… but there’s not a lot of dares we can do locked in a tiny room.”

“Truth or truth then.” Arthur said to Merlin’s relief. No broken arms, hurrah!

“Sounds good to me, Truth or truth, Arthur?”

Arthur pretended to think for a moment.

“Truth.”

Merlin thought for a second, there were so many things he wanted to ask Arthur, but none of them seemed to be right for some stupid childish game. 

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” He settled on saying, because it was an easy question. Perfect for right now. Arthur's face lit up immediately.

“I smashed my Dad’s car. His favourite car. The most expensive one he had.”

Merlin’ s eyes widened.

“Was he mad?”

“No, I told him it was an accident, I shouldn’t have done that, I should have let him know what a jerk he is.”

“I didn’t realise-”

“Truth or truth, Merlin.”

Merlin felt slightly angry that Arthur had cut him off until he noticed the pain in his eyes and decided to move on.

“T- Truth.” 

“Got any hidden talents?” Arthur asked. The smile was back. Good. he liked Arthur’s smile.

“No, I’m not really talented.” 

“I don’t believe you.” 

“I don’t!”

“Merlin.” Arthur raised an eyebrow at him and Merlin cursed his terrible acting skills.

“You’ll laugh.”

“I promise I won’t.” Arthur held up his hands.

“Fine.” the corner of Merlin’s mouth lifted, he couldn’t help it, this never really happened. “I can juggle- like really well. It’s not stupid I promise, well I guess it is kind of… when I was younger I used to love the circus, my dad used to take me before he died, and I guess I really liked it when the people started juggling… so I learnt how too.”

“Seriously?!”

“Well I don’t do it anymore, but I still know how too,” He picked up a bunch of tennis balls from a crate, “but I can still do it, look, i’ll show you!” 

“Be my guest.” Arthur sat on an upturned crate and folded his hands over his chest.

Then Merlin started juggling, just like he remembered, Arthur looked mesmerised and for once, Merlin thought the many hours of watching Youtube videos and accidently smashing a vase was all worth it. 

“How do you make them all spin in the air like that?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just magical.” 

Arthur laughed and Merlin threw a tennis ball at him.

“You promised not to laugh!”

“I’m not laughing at your juggling, idiot, I’m laughing because I like you!” Merlin blushed and tried to convince his racing heart that he meant as friends. “Do you have a crush on anyone, Merlin?”

“It’s my turn to ask you a question!” Merlin said defensively, because he did have a crush, one that was staring at him now with amused eyes.

“Go ahead.” 

“Do you have a crush?” he asked, feeling like a prat for turning the question around on him, but he really, really wanted to know.

“Yes.” Arthur confirmed, not breaking eye contact with him, not even ashamed. Maybe that’s what happens when you can have pretty much everyone in the entire school.

“Who is it?”

“I believe it’s my turn to ask, Mer-lin.”

“Oh just answer the sodding question!” Merlin huffed, before looking down in embarrassment that he had lost his cool so easily. “...Please?” 

“Fine, I have a crush on a guy.” Merlin nodded, and tried not to feel jealous. Arthur wasn’t his after all. “And they’re a slytherin...”

“I guess that explains why you haven’t started attacking me yet, because I’m in the same hogwarts house as your true love.”

“...And their name’s Merlin.”

It took Merlin a second or two to process, and when it finally hit him, he didn’t really know how to respond. Part of him wanted to run away, which couldn’t be possible, because there was a wall in every direction and the other half wanted to launch himself into Arthur's arms and cry. It took a lot of willpower to do neither of those things.

“That’s… cool.” He managed, gripping on to the wall to steady himself.

“Cool-”

“I like you.” Merlin blurted out, before hoping the earth would swallow him up or atleast get him out the bloody shed.

“You’re not kidding?” Arthur asked, uncertainty.

“Are you?”

“No, Merlin, I'm not.”

“Wow… I never expected… uh… yay…” He struggled to form a proper sentence.

None of it was entirely necessary, since the next thing Arthur did was take his face in his hands and kiss him. 

Merlin kissed him back instantly, grabbing onto the hem of Arthurs jacket.

His phone better be unbreakable because Arthur took it off and threw it against the back wall. They were really doing this… In a shed of all places.

Merlin took a few seconds to breathe before moving his lips over Arthur’s, exploring his mouth with his tongue like he always dreamed of, except it was definitely messier than he had planned, probably because he was just so desperate for it all to come true.

“Take your shirt off.” Arthur ordered and Merlin obeyed quickly, not even bothering what he looked like. Arthur’s hands traced over his skin, they were so cold in comparison it made Merlin shiver. 

There was a sudden noise coming from behind them, and Merlin was thrown into a state of dread whilst fumbling to try and put his shirt on before someone opened the door.

He hoped whoever it was would be old enough to understand… but not a teacher, no. That would be horrible.

“Looks like Repunzel got trapped in her tower.”

“Gwen!” Merlin cried, looking at his friend in a mixture of relief that it wasn’t a middle aged man and annoyance that she had interrupted them.

“...And prince charming too.” Gwen commented looking at Arthur.

“It’s not what it looks like.” Merlin said quickly. 

“Really, because your shirt’s inside out.”

“Wow… It’s inside out, I didn’t realise… ha… Thanks for letting me know Gwen!” Merlin tried, knowing how pathetic he must sound.

“I’m your friend, Merlin.” Gwen sighed, “and you’re the world's most terrible liar.”

“I think if you were a real friend you wouldn’t turn up half an hour late to the rescue.” Merlin teased.

“I did, I looked everywhere, seriously, Merlin, the door isn’t even locked.”

“It doesn’t have a door handle on this side.” Arthur supplied helpfully.

“Bullishit… Oh.” Gwen inspected the door more carefully. “That’s… terrible designing.”

“I don’t think it was designed for people to get stuck inside, but then again if this was your garden shed and you didn’t have a phone and you got trapped inside you probably would-”

“Merlin, that’s not helpful, I genuinely thought you were dead at some point.”

“Why?!” Merlin choked. 

“Mordred told me you came out in front of half the boys in your class, plus you looked a little stressed…”

“I’m gay!” Merlin sighed, “not suicidal!” 

“What about me, did anyone miss me?” Arthur asked.

“You skip class all the time, no one was surprised.” gwen said bitterly.

“Ouch.” Arthur clutched his chest and pretended to look like he was in pain.

“Can we all just go to class?” The girl standing in the doorway asked, “and for goodness sake Merlin, put your shirt on the right way round!”

“Fine, fine.” Merlin turned around and awkwardly tried to fix his shirt, he could feel Arthur’s eyes in his and for some reason seemed to like it. 

~oOo~

All three of them headed back to class, Arthur took hold of his hand halfway there and Merlin looked down in shock but tried to savour the feeling.

“Same time tomorrow?” 

“Oh hell yes.” Merlin smirked.

**Author's Note:**

> please comment, i would love you forever, also it makes me feel less lonely, plus you're all awesome anyways.


End file.
